Speakers
Krzysztof B. Wicher
Engineering biology track
The overlap between techbio and engineering biology creates opportunities to deliver benefits greater than the sum of their parts. Come along and explore where the greatest synergies lie, and what unforeseen capabilities may emerge from the convergence of these technologies.
Dr. Krzysztof B. Wicher is the CSO at HERlab, a Cambridge-based company mining microbial diversity with AI to solve the hardest protein expression problems. One thread runs through his career: getting difficult biologics made. As SVP of Drug Discovery and Development at Macomics, he built and led a first-in-class anti-LILRB monoclonal antibody programme through preclinical development, working at the frontier of functional genomics and immuno-oncology. At HERlab, that lens turns upstream — to the host itself — analysing, discovering and engineering non-conventional yeast into expression systems that produce monoclonal antibodies, offering an alternative where CHO is too expensive and too complex, or where standard yeasts don’t work.
Rebecca brings to ExEd 20 years’ experience in roles across healthtech, pharma, biotech and academic research. As COO, Rebecca provides leadership and strategic direction to all business, financial and operations aspects of the organisation, including all commercial partnership activities.
Since completing her PhD at The Babraham Institute (University of Cambridge), Rebecca has held roles ranging from Company Director of a pharmaceutical consultancy to Global Head and Global Director roles in two of the world's top 10 pharma companies, Roche and AbbVie.
Rebecca’s extensive track record of building highly successful organizations, teams, and systems, covers all stages of the product lifecycle, across a wide variety of therapeutic modalities and in all regions worldwide, including emerging markets.
Rebecca’s most recent roles include COO at healthtech start-up, OKKO Health, and Research Chief of Staff for the clinical-stage gene therapy biotech, Freeline Therapeutics.
Alongside her role at ExEd, Rebecca serves as Chair of the Board of Teens Unite fighting cancer, as a member of the Board at Beacon for Rare Diseases and is author of the best-selling book ‘The Leadership Vaccine: Drive innovation, increase efficiency and build resilience in highly regulated industries.